#MapMondays – 1876 Map of Long Island City This rare map displays Long Island City's streets, railroads, churches, public buildings, and other notable sites. The map is boarded by advertisements from local businesses including clothing companies, insurance, real estate, lumber and timber. Interestingly, it also lists the street names that have been changed in Astoria, Hunter's Point, Ravenswood, DutchKills, and Blissville. The map runs from Bowery Bay down to Newtown Creek. Tap on the image to purchase an archival print. #mapmonday #cartography #queensny #longislandcity #astoria #newtowncreek #flushing #dutchkills #ravenswood #steinway #hunterspoint #blissville #ridgewood #queenscounty #queenshistory #historicqueens #urban #urbanism #urbanhistory #historicmap #nyc #nycurbanism (at Long Island City) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_gDu2BnEeU/?igshid=fo2eioja0r0z
#MapMondays - How did Queens get it's confusing street names? This post-consolidation map shows Long Island City streets and their legal status. Streets colored yellow were in the process of acquiring by the city. Two years earlier Queens had become a Borough of New York City, consolidating the many independent towns and villages of Queens, seen in the second map from 1891. Private streets were acquired to connect the Borough, but each village had its own street naming system, with most of the streets having alphabetical, worded names. In the following decade, the city would institute a massive street numbering grid system for the Borough, with east-west avenues increasing in number from north to south and north-south streets from west to east. Some neighborhoods like Flushing, with many diagonal streets, would keep their old names and the Rockaway Peninsula would get its own numbering system. Other exemptions include #Ridgewood, who would share its grid and name system with its #Brooklyn neighbor, #Bushwick. In connecting two separate street systems, there would frequently be one or more short streets between two numbered streets. To give those streets a name, the rule was as follows: "If a single street should fall between 20th and 21st Streets, it would be called 20th Place; if two streets should be left in this way, the first would be designated as 20th Place and the second as 20th Lane. A similar system is used in the case of avenues, or highways running east and west; but in this instance, in order to avoid confusion, the terms, "Road" and "Drive" are employed instead of "Place" and "Lane." In some localities short curved streets have also been projected, as in Forest Hills, Douglaston, etc.; these are called "Terraces" or "Crescents."" (The American City, February 1928) What do you think about the numbering system? Confusing? Tap to purchase a map, use code FALL30 for 30% OFF. #mapmonday #queens #queensny #longislandcity #astoria #flushing #sunnyside #sunnysidequeens #queenshistory #nyhistory #nychistory #map #historicmap #mapcollector #mappingnyc #urbanism #nycurbanism #ravenswood #dutchkills #newtowncreek #greenpoint #hunterspoint #eastriver #bronx (at Long Island City) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3nM-iHHHdU/?igshid=1oe04onb8myu9
Queensboro Bridge construction as seen looking north from Blackwell’s Island, 1907. Swipe to see in higher resolution. Tap to order a fine-art print. Get 30% OFF during our New Year's Sale with code NYC2019 #queens #queenshistory #rooseveltisland #nychistory #longislandcity #urbanism #architecture #queensborobridge #astoria #midtown #brooklyn #eastriver #nycurbanism (at Queensborough Bridge) https://www.instagram.com/p/BsL7ow0Ferz/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=dz1s25r7katt
**Once Upon a Time in Postwar Queens: Fairyland Amusement Park & the Mason Behind the Magic** 🎠✨
Before Queens Center Mall's escalators and food courts, that prime corner at Queens Boulevard and Woodhaven was a twinkling kingdom of childhood wonder: **Fairyland Amusement Park**. Built in 1949 by **Brother Bernard Berkley** of **Geba Lodge No. 954** (now merged into **Advance Service Mizpah Lodge No. 586** in Astoria) and partner Al McKee, it was Queens' first kiddieland, powered by postwar dreams and 49-cent ticket magic.
### A Little Kingdom for Queens Kids
- Modest start on Horace Harding Blvd, then grand expansion to the mall site.
- Sunny weekends drew **15,000 visitors**, parking for 3,000 cars; families from Elmhurst, Rego Park, Jackson Heights by bus, subway, or foot.
- Rides: Merry-go-round, baby turtles, little train, plus an indoor spa for rainy days. Pure, simple joy.
Brother Berkley, raised as Geba's 660th Master Mason on **June 3, 1954**, saw Fairyland as more than business. It echoed Masonic fellowship: joy shared, families united.
### Masonic Charity in Carousel Lights
July 20, 1954: *The Daily News* headline: Berkley opens gates **free** to 100+ orphans from Ottilie, Gustav Hartman, and Brooklyn Homes. Lodge brothers as clowns, balloons everywhere. What started as one day became annual tradition.
> "Fairyland became a temple of kindness." - *Brooklyn Eagle*
Relief in action: Brotherly Love turning rides into relief for kids who needed it most.
### Vanished Beneath the Mall
By 1973, progress paved over the calliope music. Queens Center Mall rose, busiest in NYC, but Fairyland's spirit lingers in memories, YouTube home movies, Facebook nostalgia groups.
Every Queens kid who spun on that carousel carries Berkley's gift: proof joy built with love endures.
**Today at Advance Service Mizpah Lodge No. 586**, we honor Geba's legacy through Astoria community events. Read the full story + see more pics: [astoriamasons.org/berkley-fairyland](https://astoriamasons.org/berkley-fairyland)
Share your Fairyland tales in reblogs or asks! Queens history needs you. 💙
Discover how Brother Bernard Berkley of Geba Lodge helped create Fairyland Amusement Park on Queens Boulevard—a beloved kiddieland whose leg
Hey Bronxites, any ideas how long this ship has been sunk here by the Bronx Whitestone Bridge and why it is here? The view is from Clason Point Park. #BronxWhitestoneBridge #Bronx #Queens #NewYorkCityHistory #NYC #NewYorkCity #NYCHistory #BronxHistory #QueensHistory #Shipwreck #History #Historia #Histoire #HistorySisco (at Clason Point Park)
